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Both the upper and lower chambers of Congress are spending one last day in a holiday recess ahead of the Senate returning to Capitol Hill on Tuesday. But the brief break has been marred by the deadly floods in Texas. CBS News congressional correspondent Nikole Killion joins us from Capitol Hill. Nikole, good to see you. We're learning that several members of Congress have ties to this flooding tragedy. What more can you tell us about that? Yeah, that's right. There are a few House members who actually had loved ones who were at this camp, including Congressman Pfluger, who said that his daughters were there and are now safe. Also, Congressman Buddy Carter from Georgia, who said that one of his grandchildren was at the camp. They, too, are safe, although, unfortunately, another relative may have passed away. And then, of course, this is in the district of Congressman Chip Roy. So he has been at a lot of these briefings, as have senators John Cornyn and Ted Cruz. In fact, we heard earlier from Senator Cruz, who is at one of these emergency briefings, updating the situation on the ground. He actually said that his daughters were at a similar camp just a week ago. He had just picked his daughters up just a few days ago. So this is really very raw for many members of Congress, as they not only deal with the personal connections to this tragedy, but also try to comfort their constituents who are in the area, either grieving the loss of a loved one or perhaps looking for a loved one who may still be missing. A lot of those camps certainly are institutions for families out there in the summertime. And Nikole, we've learned that the Texas legislature failed to pass a bill that would have improved local flood warning systems across the state. Questions also being raised about staffing levels at the National Weather Service ahead of this storm. How are congressional lawmakers addressing that? Yeah, that's right. Well, congressional lawmakers are-- some of them are asking questions about this, more specifically, some congressional Democrats who are inquiring or would like to see a further investigation as to whether or not some of these recent cuts to the National Weather Service may have exacerbated the situation in Texas, although the National Weather Service earlier today did put out an updated timeline and did have staff in place ahead of some of these warnings. But it certainly has been a concern among many lawmakers. We know President Trump, just yesterday, kind of knocked down the idea that some of these cuts may have been to blame. And we also, as I mentioned, heard from Senator Cruz on this issue, as well. Take a listen. I will say, in the wake of every tragedy, there are things that are predictable. One of the things that's predictable is that you see some people engaging in, I think, partisan games and trying to blame their political opponents for a natural disaster. I think this is not a time for partisan finger pointing and attacks. So, obviously, the senator there saying, you know, this is not the time for this. Certainly, we can do a postmortem on this later, but it certainly does raise a lot of questions. This is not the first natural disaster that we have seen, certainly in the case of the wildfires in California. At times, there have been instances where local officials on the ground have been blamed for those tragedies. So, as the senator is saying, whether you're Republican or Democrat, you know, certainly in times of tragedy, it's not necessarily the time to point fingers. Nonetheless, that hasn't necessarily stopped lawmakers from continuing to ask questions about incidents as they occur. Nikole Killion, thank you very much. We appreciate your time.
